CNN CNN Newsroom News/Business. Latest on the day's top news stories with a focus on global news, trends and destinations.

December 24, 20121:00 - 2:00am PST

1:00am

many i've waited so long for this moment. you have not disappointed. >> the guilt trade, it's funny, warm, smart, poignant, it's bursting with talent. it is barbra streisand on film. what can i say? go to barbra streisand's website for all things barbra. don't wait so long next time. it took me 47 years to get you in front of me. >> really? >> i'm 47. >> lovely to see you. >> nice to see you. >> the great barbra streisand. >> lovely to see you. the great barbara streisand. hello, i'm don lemon, let's get you up to speed now, a shocking number of dead and wounded today in a small village in syria.

1:01am

look at the street covered with bodies and terrified survivors. witnesses say people were standing in lines for bread when a syrian military jet bombed the bakery where they were waiting. more than 100 people were reported dead. that number may go way up as night goes on. a full report from the region in just a moment here on cnn. nine days left before you face a new year with higher taxes. apparently a fiscal cliff solution is not wrapped up as a gift under your christmas tree. lawmakers are home for the holidays. house speaker john boehner is in ohio, president obama is in his native hawaii. you'll hear about a last ditch effort that may happen after the holiday. that story just a few moments away here as well. a united states senator was arrested for drunk driving early sunday morning. idaho republican mike crapo was taken to jail in alexandria, virginia, after midnight. he was stopped for running a red

1:02am

light and charged with driving under the influence. senator crapo has issued an apology. he was released on $1,000 bond and he has a court date. christmas, two days away, and for much of the country it's going to be a white one. heavy snowfall has blanketed several states, in the mountains of california up to five feet of snow is expected. snow is also falling back east as well. lake-effect snow has blanketed areas around cleveland and buffalo. high winds are threatening to delay flights at airports in new york, philadelphia and washington. i have to warn you, the report you're about to see has some very graphic images of people hurt and dying. the latest from western syria, where more than 100 people were killed today as they waited in line for bread. cnn's mohammed jamjoon is in beirut. >> reporter: a scene filled with carnage. a massacre, screams the man. they targeted the bakery.

1:03am

a bakery where hungry civilians have been standing in line to get bread. one eyewitness outreached via skype to describe the grisly aftermath. >> translator: from 200 meters away, i could see corpses as i walked toward the bakery. bodies piled on top of each other, it was an impossible scene. there was no word to describe it. >> he was one of the first on the scene filmed this video. the wounded are carried away as rebels and civilians dig up mangled corpses from the rubble. shock and grief quickly turned to anger. "where are you, world" ask this man, pointing to the destruction. "come see the bodies. they were waiting for bread." activists tell cnn this town is full of anti-regime sentiment.

1:04am

>> translator: halfaya was liberated a week ago. the regime surrounded it completely, cutting us off from the world no one was allowed in or out. even water and bread were cut off. we're able to reach an aid organization and able to obtain dough. >> reporter: he said they were able to open one of the town's bakeries around 1:00 p.m., and the rocket struck hours later. as nearby hospitals quickly filled up, activists began pleading for help. now, as more and more rebel groups promise retaliation for this attack, fears mount in syria, which has already claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people will only get worse. mohammed jamjoon, cnn, beirut. to washington now, and the big question looming over the quiet capitol, is congress ready to plunge over the fiscal cliff? earlier i spoke with cnn's brianna keilar, and i asked her what might happen as the holiday week rolls out? >> well, there's one sort of

1:05am

last ditch effort possibility here, don, and that is when the senate reconvenes on the 27th, it's possible that either they could try to pass something and sort of force it on the house or it's possible that they could take a bill that they've already passed back in july with the threshold of those tax hikes being at the $250,000 level. and that they could kind of say to the house, okay, now the ball is in your court. you have to deal with this, but it's still very much a possibly, don, that this doesn't work out, that we go over the fiscal cliff, and that was reflected today on the sunday shows from both democrats and republicans. take a listen. >> passing plan b the other night would not have changed the outcome, we're going to go over the cliff before, we're going to go over the cliff now because it's what the president wants. you cannot negotiate with someone who does not want to negotiate. >> in the aftermath of the house republicans rejecting speaker

1:06am

boehner's plan b, it's the first time that i feel it's more likely we will go over the cliff than not, and that -- if we allow that to happen, it will be the most colossal consequential act of congressional irresponsibility in a long time. maybe ever in american history. >> officially, the president is expected to be here -- or is supposedly here in hawaii through the new year, but i think the expectation at this point is that with congress returning, president obama is likely to go back to washington to oversee things as perhaps they move or perhaps as the fiscal cliff comes nearer and the u.s. goes over it. >> can we expect, brianna, any other lawmakers to step up to the plate and kick-start negotiations? what about senate minority leader mitch mcconnell? >> well, the thing at this point and i'm told by sources is that

1:07am

there really are no negotiations going on between senator mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, and senator majority leader harry reid, in hawaii for the funeral of daniel inouye and is now on his way back to washington. it would come down to the senate doing something. there would be a possibility that senate mcconnell might allow this bill i mentioned that i already passed in july, was a threshold for tax hikes, being at the $250,000 level, he may allow democrats to say, the house has to take this, or if there is some sort of vote on another measure, while mitch mcconnell would be unlikely to personally support it, perhaps he might let some of his republican senators do that, now, this is sort of thinking, coming from democrats, this is not something that mitch mcconnell at this point is planning to do, and it's very much unclear. the fact is, though, it doesn't just matter what the senate does, don. the house would have to pass

1:08am

something, and whatever were to come out of the senate at this point would require not just republican support, they made that clear last week when they didn't support speaker boehner's plan b. it would also require democratic votes, and that means it would come down to speaker boehner deciding whether or not he would allow some sort of measure to go to the floor. and that is especially uncertain. >> cnn's brianna keilar. tonight one of the u.s. navy's deployed special forces commanders is dead. he was in afghanistan and military investigators are working on the belief that he took his own life. here's our pentagon correspondent barbara starr with what few details we have so far. barbara? >> don, very sad news this holiday weekend for u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s. the navy is investigating the death in afghanistan of one of its most senior deployed s.e.a.l. officers as an apparent suicide, a u.s. military official tells cnn.

1:09am

navy commander joe w. price, 42 years old, died december 22nd, while serving as the commanding officer of s.e.a.l. team 4, a group of more than two dozen commandos conducting combat operations in the southern region of the country. while the death remains under formal investigation, that u.s. military official who's directly familiar with the event said the family has been notified of the death, and has also been notified it is being investigated as an apparent suicide. there is no indication at this time that commander price was involved in any military-related investigations or any controversies the officials said. all indications are, when he did not appear at an expected time, other military personnel went to look for him and discovered his body with an apparent gunshot wound. don? >> barbara, thank you. the president wants a group, headed by the vice president, to bring him recommendations on what to do about gun violence.

1:10am

but what will congress do with any idea they might come up with? that's next. not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem, that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afib-related stroke. there is limited data on how these drugs compare when warfarin is well managed. no routine blood monitoring means bob can spend his extra time however he likes. new zealand! xarelto® is just one pill a day, taken with the evening meal. and with no dietary restrictions,

1:11am

bob can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto® rivaroxaban without talking to the doctor who prescribes it for you. stopping may increase your risk of having a stroke. get medical help right away if you develop any signs or symptoms of bleeding, like unusual bruising or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you currently have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto®, and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions, such as kidney, liver or bleeding problems. ready to change your routine? ask your doctor about once-a-day xarelto®. for more information including cost support options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com.

1:12am

gun control is the hot topic for people on all sides of the ideological spectrum. it's not just one political party's problem, not a republican or a democratic problem. i talked with cnn contributor's about the politics of gun control. >> it has been democrats and republicans who haven't done anything with gun control.

1:13am

including our president, who four years ago was campaigning against people who wanted to cling to their guns and religion, and now in november we saw him wanting to cling to the votes of the people who cling to their votes and their religion. we saw shootings in the midst of this campaign, don. we saw the aurora shooting, we saw the sikh temple shooting, happened smack in the middle of this campaign, and this issue not be discussed, not be debated in what was a very long and testy, heated campaign. so i don't think it's true, or right to say it's the democrats or the republicans. what we cannot have is a conversation where we're blaming each other, where the media is blaming the guns, where the gun industry is blaming the liberals, where the liberals are blaming the violent video games. we have to have a comprehensive conversation, and it be a

1:14am

constructive conversation. not one where people are trying to escape their responsibility and blame it on some other industry or some other faction. >> well, i think in your -- >> well, i -- >> in your response, there's a different between democratic and republican lawmakers. i will agree with you republicans and democrats who are lawmakers are not doing anything when it comes to gun rules or gun legislation. republicans and democrats who are citizens in this country and voters would like to see something different, the majority of them when it comes to gun rules. on the side of people who -- >> and we're going to have to make it happen. >> let me finish. on the side of people who don't want any changes with gun rules, most of those people are republicans and gun enthusiasts. go ahead. >> i wanted to say that -- >> we citizens are going to -- >> let anna respond and i'll let you go, lz. go ahead, anna. >> don, we have right now three different chambers, you know, three different areas of government. there's a lot that the executive

1:15am

branch can do. there's a lot of leadership that president obama can provide that he has not provided on this issue, and yes, there's a lot of hearts and minds that have to change in congress, a lot of them republican, and also some democrats. i think it's up to us as citizens if we want to see changes happen, to take off the party label and demand it of our elected officials and the people representing us. a lot of times politicians act because the citizens are demanding it and crying out for it. >> right. >> that's what has to happen on this issue. >> i think, you're right, this is not -- >> we have to lead and they will follow. >> this is not a democrat or republican issue, taken is, it's going to take all of us to do it. and we have to take the politics out of it. l.z., i'll give you the last word. go ahead and go on as long as you want. sorry i cut you off. >> what she described is a microcosm of what's wrong in washington. there's this notion that the nra

1:16am

is a defender of the second amendment and the fact is that our elected officials and the president are supposed to be defenders of the second amendment, defenders of the constitution, not a lobbying group but it's the lobbyists who have our government by the throats, not the voters but the lobbyists. you're seeing politicians make decisions based on what they think the money is going to say from the lobbying groups. the nra is one example. once upon a time, we were against cigarette companies and tobacco companies to do the right thing. what we're experiencing right now, is the same thing we're going to continue to experience until we get serious about the way we're being governed and who's actually governing us. >> l.z. granderson and anna navarro, thank you. their job was to make people laugh, but not these days. how a connecticut morning radio show has become a way for listeners to heal. powerful words coming up.

1:17am

1:18am

1:19am

1:20am

connecticut's number one fm radio show usually sounds like a fraternity show. after the sandy hook shooting, the two radio hosts got serious and started taking calls from people trying to deal with the tragedy. >> we like to call it a town hall meeting held in a frat house. friday was strange. we went from in the morning doing one of the most happy, upbeat, fun shows of the year. >> next year's going to be even better. >> to in the afternoon doing the saddest show of our careers. >> he was one of the first responders to the scene. how are you? >> i'm doing okay. >> never in your life could you imagine you'd pull up to a scene so horrific? >> absolutely not. there's certain things that people just shouldn't see. >> every moment it was getting worse and worse, we couldn't help but feel, okay, did we reach the bottom?

1:21am

>> my sister's behavioral therapist, sandy hook elementary. >> is that right? is she okay? >> we don't know. we haven't heard from her. >> how long ago did she start there? >> it's her second week there. >> she's probably very busy right now. >> absolutely. she's probably will be very terrified when she gets home, but right now her priority is her children. >> monday we had her on the show, and she was not okay. i'm so sorry for your loss. >> thank you. thank you very much. we're all surprised and shocked. >> there's almost like a threshold for a nightmare. this left nightmare in the rearview mirror. >> my heart goes out to parents, because they'll never be the same. >> the fact that folks were able to call in and get it out of their system, to talk about it instead of keeping it bottled in. i think it helped them, it helped us. >> jim in sandy hook. >> i'm a father of a third grader that attends the school. you can imagine how our world's have been turned upside down. >> frank in shelton. >> hey, how are you doing guys,

1:22am

very close family friend of ours lost his son. >> gretchen in seymour. >> caller: you bring hope to all of us who remain a little bit hopeless. >> barry, today? >> caller: i don't know how any of these parents are doing what they're doing. >> a tough day, and then another tough day and then a harder day. >> caller: i'm choked up as we speak and i can't get over what's happened. >> scott in roxbury. >> caller: a close friend of mine thought his son was one of the victims. >> mary. >> caller: how are you? >> we're hanging in. >> caller: we all are, it's really tough. >> at the cemetery also, there was probably 200 to 300 firefighters. >> all lined up along the funeral route. >> they're having their service for his son today in newtown. >> it was a lovely poem. may i share it with you. >> please. >> please don't cry, we went on a field trip today. i know this is christmas and here and there are toys to be given so please tell santa to send them to heaven.

1:23am

just ahead on cnn. we're here. no rapture, no giant asteroid, was it all an apocalyptic lie? we ask a family who has been prepared for the end of days for decades.

1:24am

1:25am

1:26am

one hour. that's how long the messer family dedicates each day prepping for the end. but it's not what you think. they don't believe in a zombie apocalypse or a giant asteroid hitting the earth. they believe in something much more down to earth, global economic collapse. and they are ready for the civil unrest they believe will follow it or could follow it. mike and lisa messer join me now. so for you it's almost like the great depression when people are starving and they're having to ration things, you will have supplies that you can rely on in case that happens? >> well, that's true, and we do

1:27am

have a lot of supplies that are out there, my wife and i made a decision a long time ago. we have people we care about, we have friends and neighbors. and those are things we're going to try to keep as best we can together. >> give me an idea of some of the things -- a list of some of the things that your family is doing to prepare? >> oh my goodness, couponing, we do a lot of that stuff. that's how we get a lot of our supplies. our college students. we just prepare them even just to move out of home, so that they are more aware of what's going on around them. >> as we were talking, as we were preparing the segment, you guys nexted super storm sandy, one of the biggest things that, one of the highest commodity things was d-sized batteries. do you guys store things like that? do you stock up on things like that? >> yeah, we stock up on batteries. we don't have a bunker. >> using the term bunker, there are people out there that have

1:28am

bunkers, and there's that moniker that's out there of a doomsday prepper. doomsday is pretty absolute to us. >> you don't like that moniker? >> no, i do not. it is stereotyping someone who's preparing for an event. and using the term prepper out there, it's something that's going to disrupt their style of living they're accustomed to, where they'll rely on their self-reliance first. if you look at the things that occurred in major disasters that are out there. you mentioned super storm sandy. you saw the community start to come together. and once people start realizing that basic preparedness, emergency preparedness starts at the local level and then moves its way up to the federal level, then it's a whole different game that's out there, because people are less of a liability that way, because they do have some provisions in the time of need. >> you don't call it a bunker, but if something were to happen, how long will these supplies last?

1:29am

>> well, let's put it this way, depends on how many people are going to show up at our door. we have lots of friends that don't prepare. >> i know, i asked for your address, we were talking about the twilight zone, people with the bunker, let me in. >> i do recall that episode, but we have very good friends and they're the same way, i'm coming to your house. okay, come to my house. the question is, will you be able to get to my house. >> it depends on how many people come. if it's just your family, then a longer period of time. >> we're ready for ten people for two years. >> this gives you peace of mind? >> it gives me peace of mind. >> it gives you peace of mind? >> absolutely. and i get asked the question, well, what are you fearing? i'm not fearing anything. my family doesn't fear anything because that is what gives us peace of mind is the fact that it's there. >> and if you can do it, and it's not harming anyone else. why not. >> i could go out and spend that money on golf clubs, cruises or a fancy car, anything like that. we choose to spend it on

1:30am

something that's tangible that we believe is there, that we can use. >> let's hope you never have to use it. thank you very much. >> thank you. the gun debate dominated the sunday morning talk shows. we'll get you up to speed next.

1:31am

1:32am

1:33am

just past half past the hour, look at your headlines right now. more than 100 people were killed in syria today, civilians doing nothing more than waiting in line for bread. witnesses say a syrian military aircraft dropped bombs on this small village and hit a bakery where people were gathered to try to get desperately needed food. witnesses say the hospitals cannot handle all the casualties. some washington lawmakers sound gloomy about the chances for a compromise deal on the fiscal cliff. >> nine days remain to get the deal done. house speaker boehner is in ohio. president obama in hawaii. today we say aloha to an

1:34am

american hero, the late senator daniel inouye was remembered with full military honors in hawaii. the 88-year-old senator lost his arm in world war ii, he represented hawaii in washington for more than 50 years. president obama and the first lady attended today's service. the president has said inouye was his earliest political inspiration. many gun shop owners say sales have been booming recently. some link that to concerns the president may impose new restrictions on firearms. thousands of north texans visited local gun shows and stores this weekend where the most powerful weapons are costing more than ever. a gun dealer told our affiliate wfaa that an assault-sometime weapon like an ar-15 a week ago ran around $900. this week anywhere from diagnosis 1,500 to $2,500. in just a few minutes

1:35am

my conversation with a gun shop owner, several former police officers and a school safety expert who says the current call for bringing guns into schools for safety is, in his words "borderline insane." an estimated 87 million americans will be traveling over the holidays, and the weather is already complicating their plans. cnn's meteorologist jennifer delgado has the holiday forecast. jennifer? >> don, it's hard to believe we're only two days away from christmas, everybody wants to know the forecast, and we started off on christmas eve, and guess what? we're going to be looking at rain out there. as well as some snow in the higher elevations, up toward parts of the ohio valley and the east coast. we're going to be watching the chance for severe storms setting up across parts of texas as well as louisiana. now, a storm system is going to be coming in out of the four corners, and this is going to mean a white christmas for some areas. what areas are we talking about? for southern missouri as well as arkansas, you can see snow there and down toward the south, we're talking about rain and heavy rain at times. let's track this through the future for you.

1:36am

as we go later into the day on wednesday after christmas, we're talking the ohio valley looking at snow and windy conditions. >> thank you, jeb ifr. we're not going to budge. it's a message from the national rifle association, making clear today its opposition to any new gun laws in the wake of the connecticut shooting. the group's ceo is standing by remarks he made at an event on friday. cnn's barbara starr on the debate that dominated the sunday morning talk shows. >> newtown. >> newtown. >> newtown. >> newtown. >> how many more? >> reporter: performers and artists joining with 800 mayors calling for a plan to end gun violence. but wayne lapierre, the chief executive officer of the nra made clear on nbc's "meet the press" that his organization will oppose legislation adding new restrictions to the sale of weapons or high capacity ammunition magazines. >> i know there's a media

1:37am

machine in this country that wants to blame guns every time something happens. i know there's an anti-second amendment industry in this town. i know there are political leaders that for 20 years always try to say it's because americans own guns. i'm telling you what i think will make people safe, and what will make mom and dad feel better, is that when they drop their kid off at school in january, as if we have a police officer in that school, a good guy -- >> reporter: as the last of the newtown massacre victims are laid to rest, the nra has taken the position that armed security officers in schools are a major part of its solution. >> i have found the statements by the nra over the last couple of days to be really disheartening, because the statements seem to not reflect any understanding about the slaughter of children that happened in newtown, connecticut. here's what bothered me, the nra spokespeople have been willing to deal with every possible

1:38am

cause of gun violence except guns. >> school districts across the country have grappled for years with the question of security, but advocates of more gun laws the opposite of the nra offer this. they remind everyone there was an armed security officer at the columbine high school the day of that 1999 massacre. and they say controlling gun violence requires a package of solutions beyond the schoolhouse door. barbara starr, cnn, washington. >> barbara, as promised a frank and sometimes very heated discussion about the gun debate. you don't want to miss it. it's next. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested.

1:39am

but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem, that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afib-related stroke. there is limited data on how these drugs compare when warfarin is well managed. no routine blood monitoring means bob can spend his extra time however he likes. new zealand! xarelto® is just one pill a day, taken with the evening meal. and with no dietary restrictions, bob can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto® rivaroxaban without talking to the doctor who prescribes it for you. stopping may increase your risk of having a stroke. get medical help right away if you develop any signs or symptoms of bleeding, like unusual bruising or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners.

1:40am

talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you currently have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto®, and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions, such as kidney, liver or bleeding problems. ready to change your routine? ask your doctor about once-a-day xarelto®. for more information including cost support options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com.

1:41am

the gun control debate is heating up in the wake of the newtown massacre. we got opinions from many sides of this issue last night. >> i don't think that the assault weapon ban or the proposed assault weapon ban is going to solve or prevent crimes like this from happening. >> why? why not? >> why is that? because what's going to shooters in aurora, colorado, and virginia tech, here in connecticut, these were mentally disturbed people, mentally unstable people who slipped through the cracks, whose family, whose mental health care

1:42am

professionals didn't take the steps to have them, petition the court to have them medically adjudicated so they couldn't possess and have a firearm. it's not the question of the assault rifle or the ar rifle itself. the virginia tech shooter had a semiautomatic pistol. we've got to try to identify these people before they commit these acts. >> virginia tech did not have an assault rifle. >> he had, there were guns, there was still a gun. the common link is a gun. no one is saying we shouldn't talk about mental health. someone who is crazy, i have crazy people in my family, everyone knows a crazy person. the thing that the crazy person doesn't have access to in most families is a gun. >> correct. you're absolutely correct. and that's where those families and those mental health care professionals that treated these individuals failed this country. they failed this country by not

1:43am

taking steps to petition the court to have these people mentally adjudicated defective. because it's only through that, only through that, if they go to a store and try to buy a firearm, they're denied. >> you're talking about mental health. why aren't you as focused and as passionate about looking at gun laws and gun rules in this country as you are about people with mental health? it seems that it's just one point. most people are saying it should be a multipronged approach. but for gun enthusiasts and for the nra, the responsibility is never with the nra, never with gun owners, never with the laws. it's always with video games. it's always with other things outside of that, when people are not being killed because they're watching a video game, they're being killed because they have access to a gun. >> it's incumbent upon everybody in this country, whether you're a firearms owner or not, to work together to identify people who shouldn't have firearms. we've got, as i mentioned, 155 million people in homes that have at least one firearm. >> i agree with you.

1:44am

>> 200 million guns that we're talking about -- >> we should be working on identifying people who should not have access to guns, we can't just do that and not take a look at gun laws. >> gun people are trying to push this off as mental illness. the truth is, his mother bought the gun and there's no evidence that he was mentally ill prior to the shooting, and the shooting itself is not enough evidence of mental ill patience studies show that 75% of the mass murderers are legally sane. >> we're having a pattern now where people are failing to safeguard these weapons, that's an educational issue. it would have been nice if the nra had come out and reminded their base of support of the importance in this particular area. i think maybe how we should approach this is institute a moratorium for a short period of time. let things cool down, let everybody kind of depoliticize this topic and come at this thing intelligently.

1:45am

the reality of the situation, don, and i say this remorsefully is, i am not convinced that an assault rifle ban is going to curtail this activity. one of the problems is, that in their omnipotent wisdom, colt firearms industry introduced this particular format of weapon to the united states general populous, and it's been consumed since that point. you can only imagine how many of these are floating around already. >> i have an interesting tweet that said all recent mass killings were committed by 18 to 25-year-old young men primarily white, virginia tech is the exception. are you saying we should start profiling white men? >> i think we should ask the question, why is america 30% white guys and 70% of the mass shootings in the last decades have been at the hands of white guys. i'm not saying we should racially profile white guys. but i do think it's interesting to note that, had the shooters, had 70% of mass shooters been,

1:46am

let's say arabs, or african-american men, i think the conversation right now would be a very different conversation where we'd be having a much less nuanced, a much uglier conversation. why are 0% of these mass shootings at the hands of white men? not to say they should be racially profiled but to ask the question, why is the composite so similar? let's explore that, because it's an important question in light of a political climate right now where there's a lot of what i call the white victimization narrative out there. the idea that white people are being kept down and oppressed, does this have anything to do with this? i think it's worth asking the question. >> if you try to make a profile, how many people are going to fit that profile? at least 500,000. maybe 4 or 5 million people will fit that profile. then what do you do? you cannot predict rare events. that is the problem. >> i think you should just have a general awareness of everyone in your space and when you see off-color behavior be guided accordingly. >> thanks to all my guests last night.

1:47am

my next guest calls the idea of bringing guns into schools to keep kids safe "borderline insane," and he's an expert on school safety. that's next.

1:48am

1:49am

the conversations about school safety after the shooting at sandy hook elementary are endless. ken trump is the president of national school safety and security services and he says those conversations are

1:50am

"borderline insane." i asked him why. >> i tell you, don, the devil's always in the details of implementation, even if you entertain the idea, which i don't, of bulletproof backpacks, for example, if you understand how schools work, most schools, the kids put the backpacks in the lockers anyway. what are you going to do in gym class anyway? i have a vision of kids running around in gym, with book bags over their heads, in front of them. it doesn't make sense. but especially in implementation. armed police officers and school resource officers do a lot of of preventative work relationships with kids. the funding for that's been cut more and more for the past five or six years as has prevention. and -- but you start talking -- you know, teachers want to be armed with textbooks and computers and every teacher i talk with at my kid's school and elsewhere around the country said no thanks, no way, nohow. but the conversation just goes on like wildfire and we're missing the fundamentals.

1:51am

let's talk about the counselors, the psychologists, the social workers who have been pulled from schools in recent years. talk about the school-based police and security personnel, the lack of training, basic access to your buildings. and the list goes on and on. there are a lot of people in our schools who want reasonable practical help now. >> let me jump in here, my thing is, for the thrill of being able to, woohoo! is that worth the safety of a kid, because these are recreational rifles we're talking about. and that's what most people use them for. you can't use them to protect your home or use them to hunt. but i want to say this, leaders of the nra have said they will not budge an inch on their stance against new gun laws. nra president david keene was on cbs "face the nation." i want to you listen. >> the first thing we have to do is protect our kids. we're willing to debate the whole question of the semiautomatic so-called assault weapons. we've debated it before. we had an assault weapon -- so-called assault weapons ban

1:52am

for ten years. we had what senator feinstein is suggesting, it was allowed to expire, the fbi, the justice department and others, the studies made no difference. if we're looking at things that are effective, let's talk about it, but first, let's talk about protecting our kids. >> okay, so you heard what david keene, who is the nra president, had to say on "cbs face the nation" regarding gun laws. what do you think? >> well, with all due respect to the nra, and i believe in the second amendment in general, but i also believe that i won't pretend to be a gun rights lobbyist if they don't pretend to be school security experts. that way we can respect our fields. one gun in the hands of a kid is one too many in a school. when we look at the firepower, i think we need to have some rational conversations on the gun issue and stop politicizing.

1:53am

it was jumped on immediately. within 24 hours, we started circling the wagons on this issue, and yes, that needs to be a conversation, we also need to balance out that conversation, what are we going to do when kids come back to school in two weeks and how do we pull back all these other resources that we know work in schools, that we've taken away. and i just want a practical conversation that's helpful in the big picture in the long term on gun issues and broader societal issues. but i also want to see the conversation on what are we going to put in the schools in the next few weeks to give people some resources who need the help, don. we haven't had that conversations. it's fallen to the wayside. budgets have been cut. i want some practical stuff and i want something that's going to help the principal when they get back to school. the politics and the political rhetoric and tone of this, has to be not ratcheted up, but toned down and serious on all ends and stop circling

1:54am

the wagons, taking it, politicizing it, using it to further the agendas and let's get real. hundreds of gun control advocates held a candlelight vigil today on the brooklyn bridge. demonstrators marched and called for tighter gun controls. they stopped in the middle of the bridge and read the names of the 26 people massacred at newtown school. some demonstrators chanted no more guns. legendary singer and songwriter barry manilow has a new cd, his fourth christmas album. he tells cnn why he's so drawn to holiday music next.

1:55am

1:56am

1:57am

barry manilow has been belting out the holiday tunes for decades, and he released another one album year -- another album this year. it's been a long week. earlier miguel marquez spoke with manilow, and asked him what the singer loves so much about this time of year? >> i love the season, i love the giving, the receiving, all that. it's the only time of the year that people stop hollering at each other for a couple of days. what i like about christmas songs, they come from the world when they used to write a melody and a lyric, like irving berlin writing "white christmas" and "happy holidays."

1:58am

this is a real melody and real lyric, that kind of song writing is going down the drain. these christmas albums give me an opportunity to go back and sing songs that have great melodies and great lyrics, and as an arranger, i play around with "santa claus is coming to town" and that's fun, too. so i jump at the chance to do these christmas album. >> is this the sort of music you like to listen to? >> i like the family. you know, when i'm on the road, i'm -- my band and crew become the family. when i'm not on the road, like now, my family, right now i have ten people and six dogs. on the lawn out here. can you think of any other way to make yourself happy than that kind of thing happy. >> barry manilow talking earlier with our miguel marquez. santa may not be delivering presents to one house in seattle. jeanne moos explains. >> reporter: maybe if this homeowner had measured better,

1:59am

his christmas tree wouldn't have burst through the roof. >> that's crazy. >> reporter: what's crazy is how crazy everyone is about this christmas tree stunt that really doesn't stump anyone for more than a few seconds. >> we bought a 14-foot tree and i cut the top six feet of it off. >> reporter: plunked it on the platform of the roof and artfully arranged shingles around it. your house is proof that the price of trees has gone through the roof. seattle architect kruger has always been a huge fan of the movie christmas vacation in which the main character is obsessed with the perfect tree. >> there it is. >> dad, that thing wouldn't fit in our yard. >> it's not going in our yard, it's going in our living room. >> reporter: that's kind of what patrick did. his license plate even pays homage to the christmas fixated griswolds. actually, the first tree